The problem with a Resolution is it’s firmness – I will, I must – no room for error or failure, I will, I must.  Inevitably things change.  We look back, “oh well, that didn’t work out”.  Maybe we try again in 12 months; Maybe we admit defeat; Maybe we get into a narrative of self criticism and dwelling on failure.

It’s quite a harsh, and pressurised, way to treat ourselves, and not very kind.

Can Yoga philosophy give us a different perspective? It can. Sankalpa.

Sankalpa broadly translates as intention, or heart felt desire.  Some Yogi’s set a Sankalpa every time they practice, in class or at home.

The approach of Sankalpa can also be a good way to re-frame our aspirations for the New Year in a softer manner as intentions rather than the harshness of musts and wills.  This is a kinder approach to New Year changes framed in self care and a positive outlook rather than setting ourselves hard and firm goals with the pressure that brings.

So maybe take a few moments this New Years time to think of your Sankalpa?  Your intentions.  And approach them with kindness.

What are mine?

Well, three aspects to my Sankalpa for 2025.    First to get to prioritise getting to bed a bit earlier – I am terrible for burning the midnight oil.  Second, I’m a vociferous reader but other things have got the better of me recently, so I’m working towards a book a week.  Finally 2024 saw me moving more towards a plant based diet, and I want to develop that further in 2025 – I don’t think that means full veganism for me, but an axis tilted towards plant based.

Have a great New Year, and I hope to see you in the studio shortly.

^jess

Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash

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Yoga improves cancer-related fatigue, lowers inflammation, research finds 
(https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/walking-and-yoga-can-cut-risk-of-cancer-spreading-or-returning)

The article links to a trio of recent research papers, two around yoga and cancer, one around physical activity and cancer.

The research is no great surprise to those of us in the Yoga Therapy world, but its good to see a wider body of science getting behind how Yoga can help us with health and well-being.

Yoga – or any exercise – will never prevent a cancer, nor cure it.  However used appropriately Yoga will help with cancer, in a variety of ways, such as improved toleration of drugs and treatment; reduction in inflammation; a quicker recovery from surgeries.  Of course Yoga’s benefits are not unique here, any light physical activity will help, however where Yoga wins out is beyond the physical, Yoga can help with the health of our physiology – principally the Nervous System –  and our spiritual outlook.

A stable and well tuned Nervous System will help us in so many ways – better adaptation to stress; better immune response; better resilience; to name but a few,. 

Surprisingly – or maybe not – our spiritual outlook helps.  Positive spiritual beliefs, whatever they may be, are a factor in well-being, so much so that as an extension to the often used BioPsychoSocial (BPS) model of well-being, some people use a BioPsychoSocialSpiritual (BPSS) model.

As always the devil is the detail.  Yoga for Cancer Recovery would need to be delivered in a small group or individual setting, by an experienced Yoga Teacher or Yoga Therapist, and should be a rounded, graded practice, erring on the side of less is more – for most people its not the time for strong physical Yoga Asana (poses).  Restorative and Yin Asana, along with Pranayama (breath work) and some internal enquiry is likely to be the suitable approach.

Finally, in the UK the Cancer Act 1939 rightly places restrictions on people advertising cures for cancer.  Yoga is to help, not treat, in such situations.

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I’d hope that any one I’ve spoken to about yoga styles would feel that I’ve been honest on two levels: first in respecting other traditions – subject to a caveat around some very prominent fallen gurus; and secondly in acknowledging that the Yin background which I feel most home with, and indeed my own classes with a fusion of Yin Yoga, Hatha Yoga and, more recently, elements of Yoga Therapy, won’t be suitable for everyone – some may want something more dynamic, some something softer, some anything that’s not taught by me – all fine.  

Its a big world, and the adage is “if you can breath you can do yoga”, however still it is often trotted out such and such yoga is the true yoga style, or so and so is the only effective yoga practice for such a condition.

So, it transpires – and not for the first time – someone who ought to know better, a well known and respected Yoga teacher, has recently made misguided comments about the Yin practice; comments which are borne at very least from ignorance, and where the teacher concerned should have been better informed.

Bernie Clark – founder of yinyoga.com – has written about this with an analysis of the misconceptions.  It’s hard not to see this as a rebuttal; sometimes truth needs to be stood up for.  

I thought this writing would be interesting to share here; not because I feel any need to justify the practices I both love and teach, but because it is an interesting and relevant technical explanation of some misconceptions around Yin Yoga specifically, and maybe, on a wider level, in touches on the narrative of “lineage arrogance” that prevails.

Many thanks to Sarah Powers for publishing this, which is where I picked it up from.

Jason Crandell recently spoke about yin yoga on a Yogaland Podcast where he was interviewed by Andrea Ferretti [See episode 147.) Several people have approached me to comment on his talk. The talk lasted about one hour, and Jason made many strong assertions, each of which I would love to take 20~30 minutes to go over in detail, but – alas, I do not have that much time. A book or two could be written (and have!) on the full breadth of this topic, but I will pick just a couple of his key points to discuss.

 

Early in the talk both Jason and Andrea admit that in all their podcasts, they never had a yin yoga teacher on to discuss the principles and scientific basis of the practice. This was unfortunate, because there were several mistaken characterizations of yin yoga made quite dogmatically. At the beginning they both allowed that for some people, in some cases, yin yoga could be good. Jason went on to characterize who these people might be: basically, people who are very tight because they are very strong. Everybody else, he said, should not do the practice. He admitted to not knowing anything about the energetic effects of the practices and admitted that it could be good preparation for meditation or as a meditation practice, but went on to talk about why it was not a recommended practice for the vast majority of people.

 

Obviously, I disagree with his assessments. While there were dozens of statements he made that I could spend time debating, I will pick out the top 5:

 

1) Yin yoga is extreme! It comes from a Chinese martial arts master, Paulie Zink, and is meant to develop a high degree of flexibility in order to build a performance art (Monkey Kung-fu). Good for the Cirque de Soleil, but not for normal people.

 

This is misleading. Paul Grilley, not Paulie Zink, developed yin yoga as a style of yoga. I can forgive Jason for this misunderstanding as many people have made the same mistake. Paulie Zink teaches a practice derived from his martial arts background. He has called this many things over the years: Taoist Yoga, Yin and Yang Yoga, and finally (years after Paul Grilley made yin yoga well known) Yin Yoga. However, what Paulie now calls Yin Yoga is not the practice developed by Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers. Paul did study with Paulie for less than one year back in the 1980’s, but Paul never did Paulie’s martial arts practice. Eventually, Paul developed a separate yoga class focussed entirely on long-held, passive stresses complete with opening meditation and closing shavasana, counter poses, and explanations of the postures. Paulie’s offerings were never like this and still are not like this. To differentiate his offering from Paulie’s Taoist Yoga, Paul chose to use the name “yin yoga” to make sure people wouldn’t be expecting Paulie’s Taoist Yoga. Once yin yoga became more popular, Paulie adopted the same name, but he never changed his teaching: it is still Taoist yoga derived from his martial arts training. And it is fabulous, but it is not yin yoga “Grilley style”—never was and probably never will be.

 

Paul Grilley extracted the passive elements from Paulie’s martial arts training, added a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) basis for the energetic effects (thanks to his training with Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama), modern anatomical understanding (thanks to his studies with Dr. Gerry Parker and his own research), and placed it into a solid yogic tradition. In this form yin yoga “PG”, is far from the teachings of Paulie Zink, which is quite extreme due to its yang components. The resulting yin yoga practice most commonly taught (in the PG or Grilley style) is not extreme and never was. It is yin! Yin is mellow. Yang is extreme. In a yin yoga (PG) class, the intentions are not to go to ultimate ranges of motion, to hold beyond a reasonable amount of time, to experience pain, or any other extremism. A good yin yoga teacher would never encourage extreme attitudes or expectations. Beginners can do yin yoga and it may be better for beginners to start with a yin yoga practice than an active-yang or vinyasa practice (see my article “Can beginners do yin yoga?”)

 

There are only ~25 postures used by most yin yoga teachers, if even that. I use about 15. This is not an extreme number! Think of the hundreds of postures in the yang world of yoga. In yin yoga, there are no “foot behind the head” poses, or “drop back to wheel” or 108 sun salutations. The poses are seated, simple but challenging to a degree. The edge is not to be passed, but played. If pain arises, it is time to come out. Thus, I disagree with Jason and his assertion that “don’t kid yourself, yin yoga is extreme.” Sorry, it is not, at least not in the way teachers following Paul’s example teach it.

 

2) I quote Jason “There is no rational world in which anyone, under any condition, should be randomly trying to stretch ligaments! … It is just literally the most unscientific, most unsound, mal-informed idea that we could talk about.” In many places he makes the same claim and cites the statistics that muscles can stretch 200% but ligaments only 10%. Beyond 10% they are damaged with severe consequences.

 

This is a common myth that pervades yoga. I don’t know where it came from! The idea that ligaments must not be stretched and can only stretch 10% before being damaged is patently false. However, Jason makes these (and many other) claims with conviction and authority but without citing any evidence or sources for these dogmatic assertions. Let me cite just a couple examples of where he is wrong.

 

THE LIGAMENTUM FLAVUM
Located behind the spinal cord is the very elastic ligamentum flavum, which is composed of 80% elastin fibers and 20% collagen fibers. The preponderance of elastin gives this ligament a distinct yellow color: indeed, its name literally means “the yellow ligament.” It spans a short distance, from the bottom of the anterior lamina of one vertebra arch to its lower neighbor’s top, posterior lamina, but while short, it is very strong. They serve to reinforce the posterior wall of the vertebral canal through which the spinal cord runs. Due to its elasticity, the ligamentum flavum shrinks during extension, so it doesn’t become bunched up and press into the spinal cord during backbends.

 

Due to its highly elastic nature, the ligamentum flavum can assist the spine in recovering from flexion by springing back to a neutral position. We don’t always use our muscles to change positions. Also noteworthy is the fact that in full flexion, this ligament may elongate by 50% of its resting length—so we see that not all ligaments resist being stretched! However, structural failure can occur if it is stretched to 70–80% —even stretchy ligaments have their limits. The ligamentum flavum is always under some tension, which helps it to retract (grow smaller) when we do backbends. If it was forcefully buckled, it could fold inward and press into the spinal cord. [Extracted from Your Spine, Your Yoga, page 132.]

 

THE INTERTRANSVERSE LIGAMENT
Connecting the tips of the transverse processes are the intertransverse ligaments. In the lumbar segment, this ligament is thin, almost membranous. In the thoracic segment, the ligaments are strong cords blended into the neighboring muscles. They can lengthen by up to 20% during lateral (side) flexions. [Extracted from Your Spine, Your Yoga, page 133.]

 

I could go and cite the nuchal ligament in the neck (the anti-gravity ligament that saves our muscles from doing a lot of work lifting up our head), the interspinous ligament and many others. Indeed, all ligaments and tendons stretch to some degree. This is good! Even the extremely stiff iliotibial band (IT band) is slightly elastic and is designed to stretch a wee bit. It is an important contributor to saving energy during running, much like the Achilles tendon and hamstring tendons are designed to stretch. (See “The capacity of the human iliotibial band to store elastic energy during running” by CM Eng, et al in Journal of Biomechanics 2015 Sep 18;48(12):3341-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2015.06.017. Epub 2015 Jun 27.)

 

To say that ligaments should not stretch is just plain wrong. They do, they should, and they must! Every time you do a forward fold, once your torso has past 45°, your back muscles (specifically the erector spinae) have completely turned off and we rely upon the ligaments and fascia of the back to control descent and to initiate returning to vertical (see Your Spine, Your Yoga, page 149). I am sure that in every class he teaches Jason has student do at least one forward fold, and when they do, they are stretching their ligaments, and far beyond 10%, without damage.

 

Strong and confidently asserting a fact does not make it true.

 

3) Jason makes two other assertions relating to ligaments. The first is his claim that “ligaments run from bone to bone and serve to limit extreme ranges of motion of a joint.”

 

Prior to the discoveries by Jaap Vander Wal, this was the way ligaments were described in all the textbooks, so I can’t blame Jason for his viewpoint. However, Jaap’s work was pivotal in rewriting this understanding. Ligaments are in series in with muscles, not in parallel and do not serve to limit extremes of movement. (See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3091473/.) This was presented at the 2nd International Congress of Fascia in 2009 and reported on at the time by many people, including Tom Myers (see www.embryo.nl/upload/documents/artikelen-fascie/Dynamic%20Ligaments%20The%20Revolutionary%20Re-vision%20of%20Jaap%20van%20der%20Wal%202011%20EN%20article.pdf).

 

The fact that ligaments are in series with muscles means that every time you stretch a muscle you can’t help but stretch a ligament! The idea that you can avoid this by slightly contracting a muscle is false. Imagine two elastic bands looped together in series. Imagine that one is very stretchy, but the second one is stiff: the first represents your muscles and the second your ligament. Now imagine stretching them: the stretchy one easily elongates, but so too does the stiff one! Just not as much. You cannot avoid stretching ligaments when you stretch muscles. Thus tightening the muscles, as Jason suggests, actually increases the stress on the ligament, which is what he wanted to avoid.

 

4) Jason other assertions relating to ligaments is that they should not be stretched. Here Jason is conflating “stress” with “stretch”. They are not the same things. Many yoga teachers make the same mistake.

 

All tissues need some stress to regain and maintain optimal health, and our ligaments are no different. Stress is not stretch, however! When we stress our tissues, a stretch may result but it may not. We do not have to stretch tissues in order to stress them. While I have discussed above that stretching ligaments is not bad per se, what we are really trying to do in yin yoga is apply a stress to our connective tissues, not to stretch them. This is an important distinction.

 

There are good stresses (called eustress) and bad stresses (called distress). Our body needs stress to avoid becoming fragile. (See my article “Are yoga teachers making us fragile?”.) Yes, it is certainly possible to do too much and cause damage. That is true of any form of yoga or exercise, not just yin yoga. However, to claim that we must not stress our ligaments is to invite atrophy to the tissue.

 

Here is a quotation from Professor Laurence Dahners: “A common clinical finding is that unloaded ligaments not only atrophy, but also undergo contracture.” This is due, in part, to “an absence of stress generated electrical potentials (SGEP) increases contracture.” Or, in other words, ligaments need stress! (See “On Changes in Length of Dense Collagenous Tissues: Growth and Contracture” at his home page.)

 

It is only through stresses that tissues are stimulated to regenerate. How much stress can they take? A lot more than we will ever generate in a static yin yoga posture! (See Your Spine, Your Yoga, page 136 for the spinal ligaments and Your Body, Your Yoga, page 182 for the knee’s.) Dangerous levels of stress do not come from passive positions but from dynamic movements that create transient peak stresses that are higher than the tissues tolerance levels. This does not happen in yin yoga.

 

5) Jason mentions long held static stresses make the tissues weaker and thus more likely to be damaged by sports.

 

I agree! I often recommend athletes avoid any forms of stretching before their sports (do warm up, however!) for this very reason. Do not do yoga (yin or yang!) before sports because the creep that occurs during the practice will remain for some time afterwards and this will affect your strength, springiness and reaction times. (See my article on Creep and Counterposes.) However, this does not mean never do these stresses! Do them after your sport.

 

This is how training works: we stress and then rest our tissues. We know this works for muscles, but it works for all our other tissues too! Even our immune system needs stress, from time to time, to remain optimally healthy. Yes, don’t do yin yoga before sports. Don’t do yang yoga before sports. Don’t do a full a bodybuilding workout before sports either! Don’t do sports with tired, stressed tissues. But this does not mean that these other practices are unhealthy. There is a time and place for each.

 

Final Thoughts: As I mentioned at the beginning there are many statements that Jason made that I take issue with but don’t have time to delve into (such as his perfunctory dismissal of the effects of yin yoga on fascia or his claim that yin yoga has no backbending—what about Sphinx, Seal and Saddle poses?) Jason and Andrea admit to not knowing everything. No one does. I certainly don’t either. And I would fully agree that despite any scientific reasoning or evidence to the contrary, if a student doesn’t feel safe doing yin yoga or feels it has harmed her, she shouldn’t do it! Conversely, if after years of doing this practice a student has seen the benefits and wants to continue, she should feel free to keep yinning, despite whatever science says.

 

Andrea also said at the beginning that she has never had a yin yoga teacher on her podcast. It would be very interesting if she did invite one to explain the science behind yin yoga and to balance the comments Jason made. Maybe one day she will!

 

Cheers
Bernie

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This week I’ve been drawn in my own practice, and in class, to the practice of Metta Meditation. 

Metta is a concept of loving kindness, and Metta Meditation a key part of Buddhist practice.  Its sending an energy of loving kindness to ourselves and the world around, invoking healing and the raising of collective consciousness.

In practical terms various slightly different forms of Metta Meditation exist, and the one I tend to use is:

May I and all beings be well
May I and all beings be at peace
May I and all beings feel connected
May I and all beings be free of suffering, and the roots of suffering, and enjoy genuine happiness

Each phrase is repeated a number of times under the breath, and maybe with the focus on ourselves, someone we know who is struggling or on a place or situation – London Bridge or Westminster maybe? 

Maybe you repeat each phrase half a dozen times and move on, or maybe you work for a set time –  at home my own preference is to work with a timer, eg Insight Timer, and to work with each phrase for three minutes; in class we maybe work for between 1 and 1½ minutes on each phrase.

To a degree there are no rules, the whole concept of loving kindness starts with ourselves and not being self violent in how we approach practice – for example turning off the self criticism if we don’t practice daily, or don’t manage to avoid distraction.  The key, it seems to me is, intent – change through subtle energy.

The Metta practice certainly can help us as individuals in inducing a sense of calm and perspective.  My own experience a couple of years ago in a difficult situation was that sending Metta to those I was in conflict with changed the dynamic of the conflict very quickly on both sides – to that end it absolutely rose above my own experience and influenced a small part of the universe elsewhere – very difficult to explain with words but, of course, very much like prayer – and lets face it which of us don’t shoot up a prayer from time to time, even if irregularly.  

So maybe this weekend send Metta to those who lost loved ones, family and friends in Manchester or London Bridge (or indeed Westminster Bridge a few weeks ago); maybe send Metta to the conflicts in the world; maybe send Metta to our political leaders recognising their humanity and frailty – how tired must you be after six weeks of electioneering? Maybe use Metta to thank our political leaders for their service, however much we may find the policies and personalities difficult.

Above all send Metta to ourselves.

May you be well; May you be at peace; May you be connected; May you be free from suffering and know genuine happiness. 

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Earlier this morning I’d been contemplating a practice I’ve been cultivating over recent weeks, consciously, of noticing people I come into contact with and acknowledging their presence with a “How are you today?” if its someone I don’t know, but I’m interacting with, say, a checkout cashier, barista, or train guard.   In my own way I consider that a gesture of both mindfulness and kindness recognising others and exchanging something more personal and caring than a pure transaction.

So full flow, tapping away at my keyboard this lunchtime, I was annoyed by unexpected visitors to the house, doubly annoyed by them going to the wrong door, the door we’ve only opened twice in fifteen years, and triply annoyed when I saw them holding “The Watchtower”.

My response should, of course, have been “How are you today”, or at least should have started as such.  

Alas mindfulness took a back seat and my precise greeting probably is best not printed here. There were Fs in it.  It wasn’t polite.

As the afternoon went on, I was rattled by my response.  In no small part was it reactivity – uninvited strangers walking up the garden path, their car parked blocking next doors drive, a gate shut in my path as they left.  Reactions by themselves are neutral, negative reactivity, the instant verbally aggressive response, is anything but neutral – it is a stressor to myself and a stressor to my visitors.  It’s also downright rude.

“Awareness of non awareness” is a staging point in improving mindfulness – and there is a paradox here – when you are aware – mindful – of non awareness then you are being aware!  Like the two sides of a coin the view changes but the object remains unchanged.

So why do I write about this?  It’s hardly a glowing testimony for a yogi?

Well, honesty.  In a world of yoga inspired fluffy unicorns and spiritual bypassing, let’s be honest most yogis aren’t perfect.  We’re human, and at times our reactions don’t live up to ideals.  We reflect, learn and try better next time.

There are no short cuts to a mindful outlook.  You try, you succeed, you fail, you fail some more, you try again, you make small wins.  You learn, you reflect, you try.  Trying, trying some more.

Today, I didn’t live up to my expectations for myself.  I’ll exercise kindness to myself, Ahimsa, and look for the positives  today and other days – one thing I can’t do is change the past, neither can I be certain of the future, or what reactions I may have in that uncertain future.  Mindfulness is a practice of here and now.

As a postscript I spent some time looking for an email address for the local Kingdom Hall, not easy!  Eventually found one, and sent an apology, quickly acknowledged gracefully back, for which I feel more at ease.

And next time I see Jehovah’s Witnesses in the town with their stand, rather than walk by or around, I may just stop and ask, “How are you today?”.

“Between the stimulus and the response there is a space, and in that space lies our power and our freedom” – Victor Frankl

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“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” – Rumi

Ten years ago, words like “like”, “follow”, “friend”, “unfriend” “blocked” either didn’t exist in every day language, or had very different meanings.

Now many of us – myself included – get our Dopamine hit on Facebook, Twitter or Imstagram.

Social media has its bright side and it’s shadow.

The bright side is around connection and learning, a healthy stimulation.

The shadow is around altered relationships, words without emotion, the reduction of complexities to a choice of 26 black on white letters.

A friendship ended recently for me. Someone I had known both in person and on social media, professionally and as a friend. Some words and actions left me unsettled so I consciously sought to distance myself, withdrawing from our “friendship” on social media, whilst seeking to retain both professional and in person connections. Alas there was an escalation, more words, and I found myself blocked, and told by email “please don’t ever contact me again”.

Strong words and difficult times in a friendship. Maybe an ex friendship for ever. Maybe for a time.

Of course, it takes two to tango, and for me there is a questioning and searching, “What could I have done differently?”, and “Why is this energy like this?”

Yoga philosophy would suggest we all emanate from the Universe in some form and return there some day one our footsteps on earth cease. If we come from the energy of the Universe and return there, then, as universal energy, how can we fall out and squabble? Why is human existence one with conflict weaved through it?

The answer lies somewhere around the temporal filters we operate through. One teaching that made a lot of sense to me was around the function of our throat chakra Vishuddi – commonly considered to be about communication – speaking and listing – Anodea Judith also describes Vishuddi in terms of resonance and wave patterns.  If our resonance or wave pattern clashes with that of another or with the collective around us then just as uneven wavelengths on the sea conflating with one another cause turbulence and rough water, so will such conflation of unequal resonance in our interactions with others. The way through that is difficult, just like rough seas need time to calm with the swell being evident long after the storm, so fractured relationships take time to calm.

Meanwhile we exist in the midst of the turbulence, we can do nothing else, but take refuge in it being a facet of life rather than something we can control.

Even the best of friends
Give in sometimes to their darker side
Put up a wall of stubborn pride
Not willing to make amends
Even the best of friends
Betray your trust in a moment of anger
And it’s so easy to point a finger
And that’s how it all begins
With even the best of friends

Even the best of friends
Don’t always see things eye to eye
Won’t always understand just why
But that’s when they should try to bend
Even the best of friends
They need to cling to their common ground
Before the hurt starts coming down
And they can’t turn around again
Even the best of friends

Randy Stonehill – Even the Best of Friends

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It feels like I have eaten far more rich food than I should over the festive season, and a January de-tox is called for!

And so, on January 1st, we turn to “resolutions” – I wills.  Blah, blah, blah…  …how many will we keep? 

Resoltuions are good things, but sometimes we can be very hard on ourselves – the I musts and the I wills – and whilst discipline and focus has its place, we can end up being harsh to ourselves. 

In Yoga there exists the concept of “Sankalpa” – rather than the harshness of a “resolution”, Sankalpa is more “intention”.  Put simply an intention, which we work towards, but without being harsh on ourselves if we experience ups and downs on the way.  I will work towards being fitter, but I will not castigate myself for a piece of chocolate and a glass of wine. 

My 2017 Sankalpa involves being kinder to myself, and specifically

– Prioritise sleep and quality of sleep – to bed a little earlier, turn off blue light earlier, aim for an hour more sleep a night
– Make space in my diary for a bit more time to gym/cycle/walk}
– Cultivate a little more equanimity to events around me rather than reacting

Whatever your Sankalpa – intentions – may be, I wish you every blessing for 2017, and hope to see you on the mat.

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I’ve been delving into some Celtic traditions, well scratching the surface of them, of late, and its drawn me to looking into the traditions of this Winter Solstice time.

The festival itself runs 20-12 December, and literally translated from Latin Solstice means “the sun stands still”, hence the Winter and Summer Solstices at the longest and shortest days. 

Of course this season is widely celebrated – the Romans celebrated the Sun God Sol Invictus on 25th December, Christians celebrate Christmas (“Christ’s Mass”), and of course its a secularised time of family celebration world wide.

In Celtic traditions the Winter Solstice represents a pivotal point in the wheel of the seasons; a time for  letting go, stillness, forgiveness, peace, rest and relaxation, moving towards renewal and rebirth of spring time.

The Holly King is the ruler of winter, sometimes represented as the green man.

A seasonal contemplation

An invocation to the Holly King

Holly King, lord of winter, I call to you.
Here in this place I feel winter’s chill, but I also know the heat of the eternal fires you keep.
I give thanks to you for all your blessings and for the challenges you teach me to overcome.
Hasten to my aid!
Lend me strength to endure and shine bright, and let life return to me.
Blessed be!

Come to notice the breath, and bring the awareness to the depths of sleeping earth, the cold frosty surface, the warmth at the heart of the planet.

After a while let the awareness move to the bareness of landscape around, the trees largely without leaf, the hedgerows and crops dying back, yet notice the green around, the grass, the winter trees and bushes, of course the Holly.

Bring awareness to animals in nests, burrows and dens, hibernating or sleeping, getting ready for spring, and then to the dormant seeds and bulbs and roots in the damp and warm soil, resting ready to grow and sprout in the spring.

In time let the attention move to the roots of our own being, nurtured this season in their own soil of stillness and inwardness – grounding, earthed –
a time to be still and nurture before the growth of spring.   Let that awareness move to the dark void behind and around the heart space, lit by the light of heart space.  Feel the pulse and rhythm of the body in tune with the season.

Blessed Be!

(based on suggestions in The Magical year – Danu Forest)

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Although I personally would have voted for Hillary, I can see the attraction of The Donald to some people, particularly his call to change and his non political background.  I’m still not convinced America has made the right choice.

However more importantly America’s politics have world wide ramifications, and so impact on us all.

Yoga teaches us that the concept of I, self, is an illusion.  We are part of something much larger.  Yoga suggests with evolve as humans from the energy of the universe and return there.  And yes, I know enough about cellular biology to know thats not how the physical body develops, here I am talking about our essence, our soul, in Sanskrit our Atman.

And so in a very real sense we are Donald, Donald is us.  The separation is an illusion.  From the same universe we arise and return, and we all have the equal capacity for living an upright and decent life, and practising fundamental principles like Ahimsa (compassion) and Satya (truthfulness).

We may not like the outer wrapping of Mr Trump, but he is a person with immense personal powers, like us all, and now social and political power.

Our duty as Yogis?  To be critical friends in one sense, telling him and his administration honestly what is right and wrong in the world, and in another, maybe more important sense, to up hold Mr Trump in our practices such as meditation, mindfulness and prayer, according to our own traditions.  He may make right choices, he may make wrong choices, more likely he will do both, but we remember he comes from the same ether as us, and with the same opportunities and filters.

Some years ago, Carol Mccartney introduced me to a book, Dying To Be Me by Anita Moorjani, a true story about the authors journey through cancer, near death and healing.  The author reflects on her experiences, including meeting her deceased Father, with whom she had a difficult relationship on earth,  on the road to the after life, and finding a different loving man not limited by human conditioning.  She writes:

“At the same time, I understood that at the core, our essence is made of pure love.  We are pure love – every single one of us.  How can we not be, if we come from the Whole and return to it?  I knew that realising this meant never being afraid of who we are.  Therefore, being love and being our true self is one and the same thing”

Later, she writes:

“Each of us, at our core, already is pure and unconditional love.  However, when we express it here in this physical realm, we filter it through the mind, and it then expresses itself in emotions.”

We are all Donald.  Donald is us.

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For me the saddest aspect is the racism and intolerance that seems to have surfaced in the UK.

I want to make one thing abundantly clear.  Whatever your colour, creed, sexuality, race, or first language, most people are welcome at Yinspire for Yoga Classes.

Wait, shouldn’t that be everyone is welcome?  No.  Unchecked intolerance is not welcome, if you can’t leave it at home, don’t come. 

Yoga is, amongst other things, a process of personal scrutiny.  Anyone who judges based on skin colour or accent misses the essence of human connection. Intolerance has no monopoly on skin colour or accent, there are bigots with dark skins and light skins, English accents and non English ones.

A book I read a little while ago, is “Dying to Be Me” by Anita Moorjani.  In describing her near death experience, she relates her understanding of human existence, which I paraphrase, probably badly, as “We are all love”; she sees us as spiritual beings having a human existence, with our human responses being filtered through flawed human filters – take those filters away and we are pure love.   Those criteria we judge on then no longer matter.

Be under no illusion, however you see the spiritual world, through western faith, through eastern faith, though nature, there will be no accents and no colour in the after life.

Namaste – “The highest light in me honours and respects the highest light in you”

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In Defense of Yin Yoga

At first glance its perhaps unclear why any yoga should need defending.  Then at second glance you recall some of the big name charlatans of the yoga world – if you don’t know, you don’t need to, just be assured they are there – and some of the lesser known “yoga bullies” who any practitioner who has been around a bit will have come across – and then you realise, sometimes, alas, yoga needs some defending.

My love affair with Yin Yoga started backwards – I discovered the practice, then I discovered it was called Yin Yoga – the revelations and insight as I read and studied more were a joy, pieces of jigsaw slotted into place, it all made sense.  And my love affair with Yin has continued founded on attraction to its simplicity, its accessibility and the lack of dogma emanating from the senior teachers in the “lineage”  (lineage in inverted commas as, arguably, there is none – Yin Yoga is open source).

Yet every now and then I come across someone trotting out objections to Yin Yoga.  They seem to boil down to one of two roots; a lack of knowledge about what Yin Yoga is, or projecting invalid assumptions about its nature; or secondly a lack of understanding about the anatomy and physiology of the human body and how this dovetails with the Yin Yoga practice.

On that last point, anatomy, I’m fairly new to the world of teaching Yoga – just over a year as I write – but in that time I’ve learned the standard of anatomy and physiology understanding, even in experienced teachers, is sometimes not all it could be.   I can say that boldly having invested a lot of extra time in studying this area, from a variety of sources and tutors, in the process becoming a bit of a geek in the area.  Its an area where the more you learn, the more you realise how little you know, yet paradoxically, the more sense what you do know makes and the more you wince at some of the practice you see around you.  And anatomy and physiology studies aren’t just relevant to asana based yoga – if we are to truly address Sutra 1:2, and cease the fluctuations of the mind, then an understanding of how our body impacts, and is impacted by, movement, breath and mind, and how these aspects weave together and influence each other, is, I believe, at least helpful, and in some aspects essential.

Bernie’s article resonated with me as I read it – Yin Yoga shouldn’t need defending, yet leaving that aside the article is a great reference on what Yin Yoga is, and isn’t, and on some of the principles of safe practice, and in debunking some myths.

If you have time, I commend it for a read.

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Earlier this week Facebook reminded me of posts from the same day in previous years; it seems that its not unusual for me to be running behind on wrapping presents and generally being frazzled – I expressed the same sentiment last year and the year before.

In this busy week, why not take a few minutes each day to pause, stretch and breath? 

However you are celebrating the festive season, I wish you and yours well.

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Que Sera, Sera

The lyrics are well known, written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, sung by many, most popularly Doris Day.  I’m no scholar of the romantic languages, but apparently it’s not a grammatical sentence, however I certainly recall the whole restaurant singing along when it was sung by a Spanish table musician in Mexico!  It’s a sentiment that connects to the human psyche quite viscerally.

However “Whatever will be, will be; the futures not ours to see”  implies the future is something we can’t control.

It’s easy to fall into a response of fatalism – we can’t see or control the future, therefore we can’t influence it, therefore we can blame “circumstances” for where we are.

On one level maybe this is so.  However Yoga, as a science of wellbeing, gently confronts this, in two ways.

First, we can influence our future if not the future; secondly, we can influence our responses to circumstances that the future delivers.

Certainly I make no claim that, at an individual level, Yoga prescribes us with super powers to rid the world or poverty, turmoil or misrule. But at an individual level our yoga practice gives us the tools to change, and promote, our own individual wellbeing, both physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  We can therefore, slowly, change our own future narrative.

The key here is slowly; Yoga is never a quick fix, “You’ve got to do the work” the phrase goes, whether is sitting on your mat stretching an area of tightness to relieve pain, discomfort and contortion, or sitting on your mat in meditation stretching the restrictions in the mind.  Both take time, patience and persistence.

However if we do that work, if we spend the time, if our yoga practice is steadfast and diligent, then we can make changes, physically and mentally.  We can release the tension in our body from past physical trauma, however caused, and we can release the tension in our minds, in our souls, from emotional trauma.  Thus freed our future need not be constrained by our conscious or sub conscious past.

In yogic terms the past sows seeds of karma in our life, not so much good and bad as Karma is colloquially understood, but cause and effect – our past influences now and, inter alia, will influence the future unless we work that mental karma, samskara, out to introduce changes to ourselves.  That can be a brutal process as crap from the past is raked up and shon to the light, but that internal, and often private, brutality, provides the path to release.

Put simply “The future depends on what you do today”, Gandhi.

But, what of what you can’t control? What of the circumstances outside of your control?  

It’s sometimes said that it’s not what happens that effects us, more how we react to it.  And of course, following that, we realise that whilst we may not be able to control circumstances, we can control our reaction and the potential discomfort that brings.

Easier said that done.  The first step is recognising pre programmed responses to circumstances – if this, then that.

These are samskara – impressions or tendencies – our habitual responses to circumstances.  Then, through yoga practice, sometimes outward such as asana, sometimes inward such as meditation, we seek to work these samskara out so that they no longer hold us hostage.  We can see circumstances for what they are, rather than through our pre disposed view.

That in turn leads us to a place of equanimity – “a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena” (thank you Wikipedia).  Put simply we stand steadfast against circumstance – not cold and unfeeling, but measured and stable in our responses – reactionary rather than over-reactionary.

Again, this process isn’t a quick fix.  It’s many months or years work, in some traditions it’s considered many lifetimes; but you start, one step at a time.  Maybe two steps forward, a couple sideways and one back, but slowly the perseverance of practice – tapas – makes slow changes.

In many ways this cuts right to the heart of classical Yoga – the opening verses of the Yoga Sutras read “yoga chitta vritti nirodha”, translated as “yoga is stilling the thought waves of the mind” or “yoga is ceasing the mental fluctuations of the mind”.  Vritti are thoughts, feelings and emotions, the persuasive unchecked rulers of our minds and ego – through yoga we bring them to stillness – not to an emotionless unthinking void, but so that we can pierce behind these superficial layers to get to know out true selves.  Controlling our circumstances, and controlling how we react to circumstances is part of this rich tapestry.

All of this can be very practical – addressing physicality in our life, health, eating, habits, allowing us to influence ageing and external influences to our health – or a more internal exercise around addressing limiting beliefs and thought patterns – and of course this can overlap.

I, of course, claim no special skills or enlightenment, merely a place on the journey.  

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In some respects, matters of religion – especially Christianity – are like the third rail of Yoga; touch at your peril.

• “Christianity and Yoga are incompatible”
• “You have to be a Hindu to do Yoga” (from Christians)
• “The West is corrupting our religion” (from the East)
• “Western Yoga is watered down clichéd spirituality”

And yet many people say Yoga helps their faith and belief, and I know of people from all religions, including Christianity, and none practising Yoga..

How do I reconcile this? Well, what follows is my understanding and rationalisation; I make no claim to authority other than experience.

First, from the perspective of Hinduism – are Hinduism and Yoga synonymous? My understanding is that the concept of “Hinduism” is comparatively new – it was a term imported by Colonists to describe a disparate selection of local beliefs in India. This flows through to many streams of modern day Hinduism, of which Yoga is one.

However there is “Yoga” and “Yoga” – most Yoga outside of India stems from Hatha Yoga, which in turn is an offshoot of the modern day Yoga stream within Hinduism. There are a number of overlapping circles here – the commonality within the differing streams of Hinduism; the Hindu stream of Yoga and Hatha Yoga overlapping; even the overlap between classical Hatha Yoga (c1400 CE based on likely authorship of Hatha Yoga Pradapika) and modern Hatha Yoga.

Put simply our modern Yoga practice has the same roots as Hinduism, but they are not synonymous.

Of course, opinions differ – despite its Colonial roots, the authenticity of Hinduism and its passionate defence has been adopted as a rallying cause by some Indian nationalists, and the complaint is sometimes made that Western Yoga has stolen their religion. Interestingly though, there are plenty of Hindu’s more than willing to share the common aspects of their faith with Yogis in the West. I’m neither Hindi nor Indian, so probably not best placed to offer much further comment.

Moving on, how does the Christian Church see Yoga? With confusion I think! There are a number of church halls that host Yoga classes, I know of ordained Ministers who practice Yoga. Yet equally many churches condemn Yoga and refuse to host it – I found this to my cost when trying to find a venue to establish classes.

From what I can discern some of the common objections are:

• Yoga is Hindu and therefore fundamentally not Christian
• Yoga requires the belief in, or worship of, other Gods
• Yoga requires clearing the mind, which is incompatible with Christian teaching
• Yoga teaches a different route to salvation

I could go on.

You can google many articles on this if you feel so inclined.  I’ve no wish to get into a line by line rebuttal of content in such articles – “someone is wrong on the internet” is a well-known meme and a not a path to equanimity! – however to address the points above, which I think summarise the main objections.

Yoga is Hindu and therefore fundamentally not Christian

Well, as covered earlier – Yoga and Hinduism have common roots, but are not synonymous.  Christianity and Judaism have common routes but are not synonymous.

Faith and belief matures and sometimes doesn’t restrict itself to neat packages.

I’ve sometimes used the analogy of Yoga with the jack that is supplied with a car – the jack may have “Ford” emblazoned on it, but you can use it to jack up a Vauxhall – and so the tools of modern Yoga may come from Hindi roots but, in my view, are just as relevant to Christianity.

Yoga requires the belief in, or worship of, other Gods

Exodus 20:2/3, the first of the Ten Commandments, reads “I am the Lord your God … You shall have no other gods before me”. I see in there no rule about the interpretation of that God, and, read literally, no prohibitions on other lesser Gods. At this stage, I’m sure I’ll be accused of writing out of context!

The Old Testament God was known as Jehovah or Yahweh, but in the New Testament Christianity God becomes the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Yoga, from its Hindi roots, interprets God as Brahman, and has a multiple of other Gods and Goddesses as incarnations of Brahman.

Here I see parallels – The God of the Old Testament is interpreted in the New Testament in a different way; Yoga interprets God in a different way. However neither interpretation necessarily changes the underlying belief.  

Taking this a step further back, in Exodus 3 versus 13 et seq:

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

 “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation”.

 So, even God says it’s only a name!

I doubt whether anyone will win a my-god-is-the-only-god argument, so I won’t try. Personally I see no conflict – I may pray to God the Father, I may pray to Lakshmi – they are, to me, incarnations of the one Godhead.

Yoga requires clearing the mind, which is incompatible with Christian teaching

This objection seems to stem from some yogic meditation practices, such as Pratyahara, withdrawal of the senses, or Dharana the first level of meditation sometimes interpreted as introspective focus.  

Much of modern Christian teaching depicts a battle between good and evil, God and the Devil, and the objection to emptying the mind is, I believe, that a clear mind is open for the Devil to enter. Much Christian metaphor is about battle (“Onward Christian Soldiers!”), and the battle requires active engagement to keep the mind pure.

Yoga talks in fighting analogy as well – Warrior poses – virabhadrasana – and the whole of the Bhagavad Gita for example. The Yoga practices such as Pratyahara and Dharana are not about clearing the mind for the sake of it – they are to withdraw from worldly distractions and to free the mind for self-improvement. Again, I see no conflict here – Yoga doesn’t teach an abandonment of morality and an ethical free for all – there are a collection of practices within the eight limbs of yoga (another days writing) which work together.

I can only speak as I find. Pratyahara and Dharana have enhanced my spiritual focus not released it.

Yoga teaches a different route to salvation

The eighth limb of Yoga is Samadhi – sometimes described as liberation, enlightenment. It is the highest plane of meditation – oneness, or absorption, with the subject of meditation. Salvation is another term. But is it a different route?

Christianity at its most basic requires belief in God and repentance from sin. Yoga teaches that this highest limb, Samadhi, is a oneness with Brahman and a release from the restraints of worldly existence. To me these are common ways of interpreting the same requirements – the Yogi doesn’t mediate in a void, or on his next meal or next million dollars – he meditates on the highest plane of the universe – heaven in other words.

Certainly yogic concepts like reincarnation and the wheel of life don’t sit easily in Judeo-Christian teaching, but I’m not sure either tradition is definitive The essence of liberation or salvation by oneness with the deity and removing worldly bars to this – which Christianity teaches are sin – seems a common enough path to me.

You can split hairs and argue all day; doubtless I would lose any argument with a Theologian or Philosopher who took a view against me, simply as that isn’t my training.

But I write from the heart – the heart of a Yogini, the heart of a Christian. I tread both paths and see no conflicts.

I sometimes wonder if the Church’s objections stem from control? When I was active in Church membership, in fairness from an Evangelical strand, there was a distinct dislike of free and independent thinking – the “flock” should turn up, pray up, and sing up – not necessarily think for themselves. I’m sure that was a slightly narrow experience, but in general I think it’s fair to say that liberalism in belief isn’t generally common place in the modern Christian Church.   This is a shame, as there is much commonality, and much to learn by opening hearts and minds.

Both Christian belief and Yoga have had a part in my spiritual path. I am a Yogini. I am a Christian.

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I’m grateful daily for the teachers who have had a regular practical influence on my yoga journey:

Carol Macartney – the warm figure leading the first yoga class I ever ventured into, and to whom I owe an incalculable debt of gratitude

Emma Spencer Goodier – for challenging, inspiring, supporting and holding space. And for the gentle touch when it all goes awry.

Rachel Price – for a sweet, consistent class each week. No drama, just space to grow and learn.

Nicky Short – for guiding me through the emotional and often challenging journey of training as a yoga teacher, and for encouraging me to embrace the practices which I initially shied away from.  For pressing my buttons as well.

Norman Blair – for deepening my knowledge and experience of Yin Yoga, an gift of immeasurable value.

Gary Carter – with whom I am studying anatomy thought this year and next, discovering a sweet insight in the physical temple of my soul.

I could list others – the authors who have resonated particularly with me, those who’ve led workshops I’ve attended, the friends in class and the local community of teachers and yogis, and those I connect with online.

My deepest respect and gratitude.

Hari Om Tat Sat

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You are perfect
The flaws you see, they are simply shimmers from the diamond inside you
You are perfect
God made you in his own image, how can you be anything but perfect? You are in the universe, and the universe is in you. How can you be anything but perfect?
You are perfect
Somedays it may not feel like it. Don’t carry that burden.
You are perfect
But you knew that?

Perfection abounds in nature around us, why not in nature in us?

I’m not, by any means, a natural poet.

However I share this with you, probably the only poem – if thats the correct word – written since my school days.

I wrote this around a year ago, at a time when I was struggling with some things in life.  

It came to me during Shavasana during a class I was attending, a class where I wasn’t sure I belonged, a time when my self confidence was at a low.

We all have those times, when weaknesses, our doubts, our achilles heels, get the better of us – yoga has a word for this, maya, meaning illusion,  as in fraud or deceit, (the) “power or the principle that conceals the true character of spiritual reality”.

This goes to the very heart of yoga philosophy, the opening words of the Yoga Sutras, “Yoga is stilling the thought waves of the mind” – another translation, “Yoga is ceasing the whirlpools of consciousness”.

Put simply, Yoga should help us to rise above the illusion, the Maya, but it’s not simple or easy, is it?  It takes time and perseverance, and it’s long climb when you are stuck in the mire.  

Those are the times when it’s good to remember the essential perfection that makes us who we are.

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The latter, International Yoga Day, has been well covered in the media. It arises from a United Nations Declaration at the behest of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and across the world there have been mass public yoga classes, to media herald of “Bending and stretching around the globe for World Yoga Day“.  There has also been dissent, with suggestions that Mr Modi’s aspirations were political.

In the UK there were a number of special events, alas none I know of on the Island. Seminars, mass classes, opportunities to do 108 Sun Salutations.

So how did I celebrate?

Well, it didn’t involve a yoga mat. It did involve a quiet morning with coffee and newspapers on our boat, and then lunch with my parents, followed by a gym session at home. I may have snuck a wobbly headstand in during the latter.

So, not very Yogic?

Well, the word Yoga translates literally from its native Sanskrit as “join” or “union” – Union of mind and body? Of self and universe? Or soul and divine? Some of the earliest writing about Yoga is in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, written around 1,000 to 500 BC. The opening verses give us an expanded definition of yoga, “Yoga is control of thought-waves in the mind, so that man can abide in his true nature”. In the original Sanskrit this is “yoga chitta vritti nirodhah tada drastuh svarupe vasthanam”.

For me, today, my Union, my Yoga, my steps towards controlling of the minds thought waves – quietening the mind – was relaxing and time with my family. Tomorrow it will probably – certainly – involve a yoga mat.

Whatever your yoga was today, Namaste.

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First, the story in the news of a 13 year old girl committing suicide after a row with her parents about chores. I followed news reports about her being missing; about police being worried; how she had left home after a row with parents; and then in the car I heard a news bulletin with the shocking news that her body had been found hung. My instinctive reaction was to cry out, “no”. We can but wonder as to the torment she was in, and the torment that will doubtless live with her parents for the rest of their days. And, for the avoidance of doubt, I don’t suggest that her parents did anything wrong; who amongst us hasn’t argued with parents, children, spouses?

Secondly, something I said myself to someone else, someone I respect and owe a debt of gratitude to, a throwaway remark, overheard by others, that was meant to be jovial but was misplaced and misunderstood.   How I wished, even a few minutes later, let alone 24 hours later, those words could have been unsaid; how I wished I had thought first; how I wish I had simply been silent.

Its easy to be wise with hindsight.

Its lead me to ponder on what yoga says about words and communication.

The first limb of yoga, written about in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras around 1500 BC, is known as the Yamas, literally “restraints”. These are codes for how we interact with each others, sometimes called, along with the Niyamas, “Rules for right living”  

There are five Yamas:

• Ahimsa –non violence
• Satya – truthfulness
• Asteya – non stealing
• Brahmacharya – non excess
• Aparigraha – non possessiveness

Its interesting that these are the first limb of yoga; whilst the full eight limbs of yoga shouldn’t been seen as a rigid ascent, none the less there is an order, and with the Yamas at the start, its clear that these restraints, these rules for right living, are the foundation of our yoga.

For completeness the other limbs of yoga are:

• Niyama – observances – how we relate to ourselves
• Asana – postures
• Pranayama – breath control
• Pratyahara – sense withdrawal – literally quieting the mind
• Dharaṇa – concentration – how we relate to our mind
• Dhyana – meditation – moving beyond the mind
• Samadhi – a state of union

Clearly Ahimsa – non violence – and Satya – truth – relate most to what we say.

Its tempting to interpret Ahimsa as a prohibition on physical violence to another – and that’s a major part of it. However non violence goes wider than that; it covers mental and emotional harm to others, harm to our world around us, to nature, and harm to ourselves.

When we say something cruel or hurtful, that is violence to someone else.

When we say – even silently – something cruel about ourselves, that’s violence to ourselves. I was reading a few days ago a quote that suggested if we recorded every self critical thing we said to ourselves in a day, and then played it back as if it was directed at someone else, we would be shocked.   Arguably, my horror at hurting someone else with a careless word should be matched by my horror at hurting myself through replaying it and constantly criticising myself – literally, beating myself up.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it” we say to someone who has made a mistake, or someone who is struggling having being hurt by another. Beating someone else up leads you to court and punishment by the justice system – beating ourselves up leads to a more invidious circle of self punishment.

So we need to consider our words not only by Ahimsa to others, and maybe to our world around, but Ahimsa to ourselves as to how we react when something is misunderstood or misconstrued. We need to apply Ahimsa to how we react to what others have said about us, what we have heard.

Practically, that means the sarcastic tweet to a politician or celebrity on Twitter is probably not in the spirit of Ahimsa – it seems like a throwaway instant reaction, but if the recipient reads it, it may harm them, it may negatively influence others views and lead to a flurry of such comment.

Practically, it means forgiving ourselves if we say something wrong rather than reliving it with if only, if only, if only.

Practically, it means being generous in our response to others, forgiving when offence has been unintentionally given.

Satya – truthfulness – partners with non violence. Non violence prevents extreme truth, bluntness, where it may harm; truthfulness encourages us to face up to the difficult conversations that non violence may initially have us shy away from.

Again, its something of many layers. Its not just being true in dealing with others, its being true to yourself.

Truth demands just that when we speak to, or about, others. Honesty, rather than shades of grey. Measured comment rather than jibe or speculation. Truth doesn’t make a joke at someone else’s expense.

Truth demands that we be honest about ourselves – rather than becoming wrapped up in fantasy dramas, truth requires measured examination of our instinctive reactions and thoughts, especially the self critical ones. Put simply, rather than wallowing in pity, or dwelling on upset, truth requires an honest assessment of circumstances.

Truth demands we are honest in what we hear – if we know something was said in error, or hurt was caused through carelessness, truth demands we don’t hold a grudge, we let go, we forgive.

The dance of truth and non violence is one of many such interplays in our lives, and govern amongst other things what we say, what we hear, how we react to what we say, how we react to what we hear.

I’m personally under no illusion that this is easy – this week has taught me that – but we, I, must try. Because the alternative is uncaring cynicism and lies and, I suspect, the world has more than enough of that.

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What does Namaste mean?

We use Namaste as a greeting and mark of respect, most commonly at the end of a class, sometimes at the start or on welcoming someone in.

The literal translation is “I bow to you”, a more common translation capturing its essence, “The highest light in me honours and respects the highest light in you” – for light, you may wish to read conciousness.

Why is the chant of OM used?  What does it mean?

OM – or Aum – is considered to be the underlying sound and energy of the universe.  All that is, was and will be. 

Its also the symbol ॐ that we often see in Yoga.

Om is the one eternal syllable of which all that exists is but the development. The past, the present, and the future are all included in this one sound, and all that exists beyond the three forms of time is also implied in it – Mandukya Upanishad

In class we use the chant of OM, normally at the end of class, to connect back to the ancient roots of yoga.  I also think its a nice link to the shared energy of many other yoga classes going on around the county and world at the same time.

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“approaching a new ‘yoga’ for the 21st century electronic world. It may or may not look like the yoga that developed for the Brahmin class of the agricultural world.”

http://www.anatomytrains.com/news/2015/05/08/pre-and-post-exercise-stretching-pros-and-cons/

There is so much here that resonates with me that it’s hard to know where to start.

I’ve come across many yoga die hards, “If Swami said this 50 years ago it must be right”, denying the richness of discovery that science brings us, almost as if there is a fear of subjecting their understanding to scrutiny.

So, if warm up is what was always done, what we were taught, then we must continue, says tradition.  Yet as the article says, animals don’t stretch and warm up, builders don’t, we don’t stretch or warm up if we are running for a bus.  And animals probably make less use of massage, osteopathic, chiropractic and similar therapies than humans, suggesting they are no worse for their reckless instant on.   Something to muse during your next stretch.

That’s not to say there isn’t a benefit in a pre exercise warm up, there may be – or indeed may not be as science is starting to suggest pre exercise stretch may hinder performance in some instances, probably not yoga though – but we owe it to ourselves to think clearly about why we may warm up and what we wish to achieve.  

Maybe the warm up is more of a psychosomatic process of stimulating the link between body and mind? Maybe it’s freeing up the physical body rather than a stretch?

The language of “stretch” isn’t always helpful.  Muscle is contractile, to work it shortens, can we really make it longer than its resting length and hope to make a semi permanent change? Again, science is telling us not; we don’t change our muscles length, we change the body’s understanding of safe range of motion; stiffness can be understood as a protective response, and releasing it requires resetting that understanding.

Yoga has much richness and heritage to it, unlike many exercise regimes, it addresses soul and mind as as body, and that richness and heritage, the wisdom of the Sutras, Upanishads, Gita, isn’t negated by embracing new discoveries from science.

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